Daring Friendship
by ObsessedFan1
Summary: Luke is dared to do a stupid thing and talk with ol' crazy hermit Kenobi. It ends up not being so crazy after all.


_Star Wars. Usually I don't do Star Wars. But I was looking through my "Abandoned" file and I found this. So, what the heck? _

_I, like so many others, wished I owned this. But no, Disney does. Disney owns everything._

* * *

"I can do anything!" fifteen-year-old Luke yelled at his friend/acquaintance.

"Oh, really? I doubt you could spent more than a day in the Dune Sea with no provisions, and I spent an entire week there," he sneered back

"I can do even more than that!" Luke yelled again, acting rashly. His friend gave a cruel smile, apparently having thought of something worse to dare Luke to do.

"Fine then Luke," he said speaking as though to a small child, "If you can do so much, I dare you to cross the dune sea, spend the night with ol' Kenobi, and come back with something of his in one piece."

Luke paled. Crossing the dune sea was suicide. There were sand people, poisonous plants, and, if you survive those, you would die of thirst or starvation. And then there was the matter of ol' Ben Kenobi. He was a hermit who had somehow survived living in the sand people's favorite place to hunt.

"F-fine then," Luke stammered, "I'll do your stupid dare."

All of the kids who had circled around them to watch the argument either laughed or gaped in disbelief at Luke. No one had gone into the dune sea, or at least not for two or three days. It was crazy.

"Well then," Luke's friend said (even he sounded shocked that Luke had agreed), "You better get going then."

Luke nodded stoically, and turned to face the seemingly endless mounds of sand. He exhaled deeply before marching into the dune sea.

* * *

Within the first hour, Luke had nearly collapsed from thirst and exhaustion. He had made good time, being about two-thirds of the way through the sea. Still he was about to collapse, and the approaching sandstorm was not going to help at all.

Unfortunately or fortunately, Luke was a very stubborn person when dared to do something. He was absolutely determined to at least make it to Kenobi's house, if he had one. Then someone would at least get his body back to Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. _Uncle Owen, _he thought through his delirium_, He's going to kill me._

He started to feel the wind from the sandstorm, and maybe did the stupidest thing anyone on Tatooine had ever done. He didn't run.

In maybe a minute, Luke was almost completely covered by sand. He would have been covered if and hand hadn't grabbed his forearm and dragged him free.

Luke was only vaguely aware of person pulling him up. He tried to think of who it could be, but only sand people inhabited the area as far as he knew. _Maybe I've died,_ he thought_, and this is an angel to take me to heaven._ With that comforting thought, he passed out.

* * *

When he woke up, Luke knew that he wasn't dead, nor was in heaven. For one thing, he was in pain from all the cuts the sand had given him. For another, he was on a hard-ish bed with a rough blanket covering him. Aunt Beru had always that if you were in heaven, that it would be the nicest, most comfy place he could imagine.

"You're awake then, Young Luke?" an old man's voice asked him. He had never heard it before, but it sounded familiar somehow.

Luke got up squinting against the light from the suns, and looked around. He was in a stone house that was rather cluttered, but obviously comfortable. He looked at the man who had spoken and got first the impression of extreme age.

The man had snow-white hair and trimmed beard, and wrinkles etched around his eyes. "Who— are you Ben Kenobi?" Luke asked, looking more carefully at the man for signs of madness.

"Why, yes I am, Young Luke," Ben replied standing up. Luke instinctively stepped back from him, bumping into the bed he had just gotten up from. It wasn't without reason that he had stepped away from him. A lot of his friends said that his was mad and dangerous. A few even said that he had slaughtered an entire village of sand people twenty-five years previously before anyone had known he was there.

"H-how do you know my name?" Luke stammered trying to back up even more.

"I've known you since you were a newborn infant, Luke. How could I not know you're name?" the old man replied, watching Luke's efforts to put more of a distance between them.

Luke was about to reply with something real smart like "you'll never take me alive" when a burning smell came to both of their nostrils. Ben whipped around to the pot simmering, or burning, on the metal block being heated by the suns' light. He tried to stop the stew from burning any further, but it was a battle he soon lost. He then started fluently cursing in a language that Luke didn't know.

Ben crossed the room and started rummaging through a pile of bottles with one hand._ He's burned, _Luke realized. It made him feel sorry for the old man, no matter what people said he had done.

Before he had registered it, Luke crossed the room and grabbed the bottle that Ben was searching for. He poured a small amount onto the old man's hand, where a large bright red burn had appeared. Ben rubbed it into his skin and sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Luke," Ben said smiling, causing Luke to nod tersely, "Now tell me; why were you in the middle of the dune sea when a sand storm was brewing?"

Luke squirmed guiltily. "It was for a dare," he admitted, "A friend dared me to cross the Dune Sea and come back in one piece. And spend the night here."

"Mhh, Luke you should not do things that are dangerous so willingly. Does you uncle know you're here?"

Luke squirmed again. "No, he would have never allowed me to set foot in here."

Ben sighed at his admittance. "Well, Young Luke, we'll have to get you back to your Uncle and Aunt."

"No! I need to prove myself, and stay here. If I don't now one's going to ever think of me like I'm actually worth anything."

Ben looked at him with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. Then he started chuckling. "You sound like your mother, Luke."

Luke's arms, which had been raised in a _why not _gesture, dropped to his sides in surprise. "You know my mother?" he asked the still chuckling man.

Ben stopped sniggering, and his expression turned to one of sadness. "Knew, I'm afraid. Your mother died at your birth."

"But you did know her," Luke said cautiously, "What was she like?"

Ben smiled and started to talk about Luke's mom. How she was beautiful, kind, and compassionate. Luke had plenty of questions, and Ben gave an answer to nearly all of them. _Ben isn't crazy,_ Luke realized, _He's a good man. _It made it that much harder to consider stealing from him.

As they talked they began to lose track of the time. When Luke had finally had exhausted all of his questions, and had stopped trying to get Ben to respond to the questions he wouldn't answer, they both realized that it was nearly dark.

"Ahhhhhhh," Luke groaned, "I'm not going to make it back to the farm."

Ben smiled at him. He knew that Luke had planned this, that although he had sincerely wanted to know about his mother, Luke had made their conversation last all that time on purpose.

"Hey, Ben," Luke asked him, "Could I spend the night here? I don't want to get hounded by sand people."

"Of course, Young Luke," Ben told him, still smiling. Luke's face half split into a smile, and half hardened.

"Don't call me that. I'm not a kid."

Ben kept on smiling. "Luke, you are only fifteen. When you become older, people, including myself, will treat you as such."

Luke grumbled but accepted it. They clear a space and laid out some blankets for Luke to sleep. When the last bits of sunlight had disappeared, they laid down and went to sleep. Or at least Ben did.

Luke stayed awake, waiting until he could get up and sneak something of Ben's into his pocket. He knew the time had come when he heard Ben snoring. _Geez, how have I never heard him snoring from the farm, _he thought as he quietly crept in front of the old man. When he stood in the middle of the house, he tried to decide what to take. Something small would be ideal, he realized, so he creped over to a silver trunk that stood on the far side of the place, and opened the top.

Luke gasped when he saw what was in it. What was on the top were three silvery handle-things, an old cloak, and a very old-styled blaster. He shakily reached out his hand to grab one of the silver handles when a hand grabbed Luke's forearm.

He whipped around fearfully at being caught in his attempted thievery, and saw Ben standing there. But he didn't look very angry. It looked more like seeing the objects had reawaken memories that were painful.

"I-I was just—" he said trying to come up with a plausible excuse.

Ben looked at him and said in an even voice, "If you had wanted something to prove you were here you could have just asked, Luke."

"How did you know?"

Ben didn't answer, but closed the trunk lid and pulled Luke over to a smaller-sized trunk made of the same metal. He opened it, and pulled out a long brown coat.

"Here, Luke. Something of mine as your friend requested."

Luke took the old cloak gingerly. "What is it?" he asked.

"That was my father's cloak. He was wearing it just before he was killed," Ben answered moving back to his bed.

"Who was he?" Luke inquired, while examining the thirty-five-year-old cloak. Ben stopped moving for a few moments.

"He was… a great man," Ben said hesitantly.

"But who was he?"

Ben sat down on the bed, and clasped his hands. Luke didn't expect him to respond, but when he did his voice was full of pain. "I never knew my real father. The man who owned what your holding, he was my teacher."

Luke didn't quite know how to respond to that. He wanted to comfort Ben somehow, but was immensely curious about this person. Everyone he had ever known had said that he was crazy, dangerous, and bloodthirsty. Now he seemed more like a real person.

"How did he die?" he asked quietly.

Ben was even slower in response. "He died during battle. A man stabbed him through the chest, and died a few minutes after the person who killed him was destroyed."

"Did those silver things belong to him too?"

"One of them. The others belonged to me and my brother."

"Was he your real brother, or a classmate?"

"He was my own pupil. But I still thought of him as my brother," Ben's head dropped even further, and, unless Luke was mistaken, tears started to slowly drip out of his eyes.

_He's hurt because so many people he loved have died, _Luke realized. He looked at the cloak he was holding, then walked to the old man and draped it over him. Ben smiled at the gesture.

"Thank you, Young Luke. Now let us sleep, and in the morning we will return you to your Uncle and Aunt."

* * *

"Hey! He's alive!" was the first thing Luke heard when he passed into his farm. Next, he saw all of his friends all grouped together around him.

"Dude we thought you were dead," a boy named Clieg said smiling crazily, "Your family was so mad."

Luke smiled at them all, but some of them were starting to look scared and afraid. He turned his head to the right where most people were staring.

"By the way guys, this is Ben Kenobi," he said clapping Ben on the shoulder. That just seemed to make them even more terrified.

Luis, the guy who dared him to go into the dune sea, stepped forward. He was the one who was staring at Ben with the most fear.

Luke got the hint and, feeling rather rude, said, "Thanks Ben. For taking me home."

Ben smiled, and simply answered, "Not a trouble, Young Luke." Then he turned around and walked back into the dune sea towards his home.

When he was out of sight, Luis hissed at Luke, "What were you thinking? He could've just killed all of us."

Luke gave him a look that plainly asked _Why would he? _And Luis answered the silent question. "He's a lunatic, Luke. A crazy, deranged, phyc—" He never finished his sentence. Luke had punched him in the face, knocking him flat, and had started to yell at him.

"Ben is a great man! He's not crazy!" he yelled.

"Luke, what is going on?" Uncle Owen yelped when he saw his nephew screaming and Luis clutching a bloody nose. Apparently, someone had went to get him when they had seen Luke.

"He insulted Ben," Luke growled.

"Ben? Ben Kenobi? You've met him?" Uncle Owen's face was encrusted with angry disbelief. Not waiting for the answer, he started to mutter darkly things like, "He said… Enough to his Father… Better stay away…"

By this point, Luke was seriously confused. "Why does everybody hate him so much?" he yelled.

Uncle Owen decided to set him on the wise. "Luke that _man_ (he said the word like Ben hardly deserved a title like that) has survived years in the wild, and is mad."

"He's not! He's good person! He had a father and a brother and he knew my mother."

"He knew your mom, Luke? Is that why she's dead? Did he kill her?" Clieg asked, half scared and half-excited.

"Why would you say that? They were friends!" Usually Clieg was a very sensitive boy, but now it seemed he was as cruel as Luis.

"But Luke," he persisted, "that Kenobi guy slaughtered a village of Sand People. I think he would kill someone."

"He wasn't even on Tatooine when that happened. He was on Geonosis." Everyone was shocked, including Luke. How did he know where Ben had been?

Luis took this as a chance to get even. "Oooohhhh, is he your new best friend? Are you a lunatic too now, Young Luke?"

"Ben is not a lunatic! And I'm not one either!" Luke yelled in response. Before Luke could punch him again, Uncle Owen grabbed Like's arm and pulled him towards their house. The kids kept on yelling things at Luke, but he couldn't respond because his uncle put a hand in front of his mouth. "Not a fight you want to get into, Luke," he whispered into his ear.

Uncle Owen kept on pulling him until they were safely inside the house. Aunt Beru was standing inside, waiting for them.

"Luke," she sighed with relief, enfolding him in a hug, "Why did you go? Was it a dare?"

"Yeah. Luis," Luke muttered apathetically.

"Well," Beru responded sharply, straightening and looking at him severely, "You are going to spend the rest of the day in your room, so that you understand what you've done and how wrong it was."

"Come on, Aunt Beru! Not the stupid "until you feel guilty" punishment!"

"Yes, that punishment, now go."

Luke walked to his room and thought about what he had done, like Aunt Beru had told him to. He grinned as he planned the next time to visit Ben.

* * *

_Review? Just for me? The random person you don't know?_


End file.
